“Avengers: Age of Ultron” Photos and Plot Details

The Avengers take center stage for Entertainment Weekly‘ s July 25 preview issue for Comic-Con, which contains the first official set of photos as well as key plot points from Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Age of Ultron begins with Tony Stark’s plan to fix the world by building Ultron, a self-aware artificially intelligent robot. Unlike in the comics where he’s created by Ant-Man, in this movie Ultron’s built by Stark and “devised, essentially, as the ultimate drone, a way for Iron Man to abdicate his duties and offload them onto a fully mechanized protector.” Stark’s plan is to have Ultron be an all-seeing, all-knowing captain of a “planetary police force known as the Iron Legion, which is a team of robotic cops who resemble blue-and-white versions of the Iron Man suit but have no human core.” In order to give Ultron a dose of humanity, Stark programs Ultron with elements of his own personality. However, instead of inheriting Stark’s sympathy, Ultron takes on Stark’s cynicism.

The opening scene of the film shows the Avengers celebrating in Stark’s New York City skyscraper, formally known as Stark Tower. The building, which has now been repurposed as the headquarters for the Avengers, then comes under siege by the Legionnaires. The Avengers then make quick work of the robotic cops, but Ultron has begun thinking for himself and says, “I know you’re ‘good’ people, I know you mean well… but you just didn’t think it through… There is only one path to peace… your extermination.”